Gypsies role for ex-Crusaders boss

Bohemians won’t be Aaron Callaghan’s first venture into management, but it could be his most significant. Having previously managed Crusaders, Athlone Town and Longford Town, the Bohs job will offer a much more high profile status.

Callaghan’s playing career was quite impressive, having played in England for Stoke, Oldham, Preston and most notably Crewe Alexandra, where he played over 160 games. Coming back to Ireland to play for Shelbourne in the mid 90’s, he won a League of Ireland Cup with the Reds in 1994/5.

The newly appointed Gypsies supremo enjoyed the most successful part of his playing career at Crusaders, where he won two Irish League Championships in three years. Coming back down south after his spell at Seaview, Callaghan played with St Patrick's Athletic, Longford Town and Dundalk, where he won the 2002 FAI Cup with Dundalk.

In terms of coaching, Callaghan has coached with the Ireland under 14’s in the late 90’s, and was most recently first team coach at St Pats. He is also a founding member of the Football Coaching Association of Ireland, which was established in 2009. Added to this, the Dubliner was one of the first Irish coaches to get his UEFA PRO license in 2007.

Bohemian’s president Chris Brien is delighted to have secured a coach early on in the pre-season. “We are delighted to have secured a manager in good time for the start of the new season,"

He said. “Aaron Callaghan has strong knowledge of the League of Ireland and will bring broad experience to the job. We welcome him to the club and we are sure our supporters will wish him well."

Aaron Callaghan will have a big job at hand trying to secure signatures to his first team squad, with players like Killian Brennan, Anto Flood, Chris Fagan and Chris Forrester all on the radar of other teams.

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